7/10 Instance: SHIELD Maiden

[Starfish]

Timeline: After "Uncle Fury Wants You".


Darren: Darren landed outside the door to the apartment and sighed deeply, the lights were on so people were in, he just hoped that Lorna was elsewhere for now and would stay so while he and Sel talked. He unlocked the door, "Oh honey, I'm hooooooome," he called out playfully.

Selene: Selene's left eye twitched when her husband's cheerful voice drilled into her ears. "That's nice to hear, love, but I would like you to consider that I'm holding a large needle here, and I know how to use it." She put the shrunken head plush she had been working on down into her lap.

Darren: "Oh you tease," Darren chuckled moving into the house and locating his wife, putting his arms around her shoulders and kissing the side of her neck softly, "Lorna not about then?"

Selene: "I believe she locked herself into the Danger Room with the lizard girl at the moment," Selene replied, putting her hand on the back of Darren's neck, pulling him back down for a proper kiss on the lips before she let him go again. "That was after I asked her whether she wanted a cup of coffee and she wouldn't stop muttering angrily."

Darren: "She really ain't goot at the moment is she?" Darren sighed, "I ... may have just made it worse by ranting at her about Rogue and the Brotherhood bullshit ..." he wasn't going to get angry, anger could come later, right now he had important grown up stuff to talk to her about.

Darren: "Speaking about coffee, would you like one?" He offered.

Selene: "Yes please, that would be splendid." Selene put the plush on the side table next to her chair and stood up, following Darren into the kitchen. "I'm surprised she's taking all of this without impaling anyone on cutlery so far." She frowned. "You think I should give her some suggestions on how to vent her pent up frustration?"

Selene: "I could also give her a few pointers on how I would have handled the situation were I in her place."

Darren: "Or thrown the kitchen sink and anyone," Darren topped up the coffee maker and switched it on, the machine starting to bubble happily as he eyed up the remains of takeaways scattered across the counter-tops, beging picked over by cats and a bunny, "Maybe she could use it, comfort eating like this won't do her any favours," he prodded a chinese tin carfully.

Darren: "Though if she's not gonna be back for a while, great, 'cos there's something I gotta talk to you about," he said, hunting down a couple of coffee mugs.

Selene: "Oh?" Selene arched an eyebrow, looking curious. "You planned out all the details needed for launching Rogue into space, as well?"

Darren: "I was thinking about that I actually not I'm just considering just suffocating her and then letting you reanimate her corpse to tap dance outside the other X-Force guy's rooms as a warning to others," Darren snorted, only half joking as he poured the coffee, "but no, what I actually wanna talk about is why Fury called me back into base, wanna go sit on the sofa while we talk?"

Selene: "It has to be serious if we invoke the sofa of earnest discussion for it," Selene said, grabbing her mug of coffee and accompanying Darren back into the living room. "Allow me to make an educated guess," she continued as she took a seat and crossed her legs. "The whole Apocalypse, Horsemen, and X-Force affair boiled down to be our fault?"

Darren: Darren sat next to her, "No, nothing that bad, actually, it depends on your perspective if it's bad or not, but you don't have to worry, everything's still okay on that front."

Darren: He looked down at his steaming mug, "... Fury wants to transfer me out of the X-Men is what it is," he said bluntly, there was no point dancing around the subject with Selene.

Selene: The arched eyebrow snuck back on her face. "A transfer," Selene asked, her frown deepening. "And when you say out of the X-Men, I assume to any place but here, is that correct?"

Darren: "Not really, he wants to move me to a new deparment in SHIELD," he sighed and sat back, "see, in wake of what happened with Nur and shit the government finally realised they're not equipped to deal with threats like that, so there's been a shake-up of departments and that."

Darren: "According to Fury, SHIELD is no longer a devision of the US Army, but an international ... I dunno, mutant threat task force, working for the UN. There's a new department that will consist of a team of 'the most gifted individuals, trained to deal with the threats the normal military and judicary can't'," he produced the tablet computer he'd been given, "Fury wants me leading his flagship team."

Selene: "Top cop Warlock? You got to give it to the man, he knows how to stroke your ego." Selene leaned over to take the tablet from Darren, switching it on to parse the information it displayed. "And, naturally, that would mean the end of your current task. That's what you're trying to tell me, right?"

Darren: "Fury said that he needed a hundred percent commital, so I would have to leave the X-Men, yeah. He also said I had a choice so I can say no ..." he glanced at his wife, "he also said he was interesting in offering you a position within SWORD as well."

Selene: The coffee began to burn Selene's lip when she paused mid-sip, fixing Darren with a narrow-eyed stare over the top of her mug. "I'm sorry, come again," she said, shaking her head as she put down the beverage again. "My mind must have drifted, because I just imagined you saying that someone wants to put me on an elite military task force."

Darren: "Fury assured me he's serious," Darren smirked a little at her, "he said that you're talents would be beneficial to the team."

Selene: "Which one? The team we're supposed to go up against?" She smirked and chuckled softly, before sitting back on the sofa. "Now, let's assume he wasn't intoxicated when coming up with that idea, I assume the same conditions would apply as in your case. Meaning, were I take him up on that offer I had to take my leave from the X-Men?"

Darren: Darren nodded, "Yeah, he also wants me to ask around the school, ask anyone else I think would be suitable if they're interested and stuff."

Selene: "So, to put it bluntly, he hopes to recruit experienced X-Men for his own little project," she commented, leaning forward to pick up her mug again. "Does the school get anything for acting as his unofficial training grounds then? You know, we really could do with a missile launcher mounted in the attic."

Darren: "Nothing except the prestige and some more goodwill from the population at large for being the best place to recruit government sponsored super-heroes I'm afraid," Darren chuckled a little, "you can say no babe, I'm not even sure about saying yes myself ..."

Selene: "Oh, we'll see about that once I've had my chance to do some negotiating," Selene remarked, crossing her legs and cradling her coffee between both hands. "It's an intriguing prospect, I'll give you that. After all, no matter how much good we did, the fact that we've always operated in a legally grey area had an effect on our reputation and visibility."

Darren: "Yeah," Darren nodded, taking a mouthful of coffee, "we have an opitunity to do a lot of good for mutants with this it's just .... you know," he looked around, "this is our home, and now's not exactly the best time to be leaving is it?"

Selene: Selene nodded. "Absolutely. This a decision that shouldn't be made with the consent of the staff, anyway." She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, staring into her coffee with a thoughtful expression. "This is primarily a school, however. And the fact that it also housed the only superhero team around contributed to making it a target in the past."

Darren: "You can say that again," Darren grumbled, watching her face carefully, "so what's your feeling on this babe, I know that thinking face there."

Selene: She looked up at meet Darren's gaze. "I'm torn on the issue," Selene replied truthfully. "I primarily see this as an opportunity to draw unwanted attention away from the school and its students." She frowned. "Before deciding either way, I want to consult the others, and I will bug Fury about some details that concern me, whether he likes it or not."

Darren: Darren smiled and kissed her cheek, "Good call, I'm sure Fury will be delighted when you turn up randomly in his office," he chuckled, "I'm going to have to vanish again for a day or so babe. Fury managed to track down one of our old friends and wants me to find out if he's interested in SWORD."

Selene: "Oh, believe me, I'll be nothing but my good old charming self," Selene replied, her smirk just holding a hint of mischief. "Really? Who is it, or is that one of those top secret special assignments again?"

Darren: "Tell you? And spoil the suprise?" Darren chuckled, "Hopefully I'll be able to drag him back for a visit anyways, so you'll see," he teased.

Selene: "Ooh, you tease." Selene flashed a grin and put the mug back down on the table. The next moment she was straddling Darren's lap, framing his face with her hands and leaning in for a kiss. "You better hurry up then, because I'm terrible when it comes to waiting for a surprise."

[steyn]

Hee, awesome!

[Slarti]

Watch out petite, it's Remy!

[steyn]

Worse, it's Banshee v1.0.

[Slarti]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooo!

[Ferguson]

The horror!

And you're absolutely wrong, it's Terry.

[steyn]

I thought Terry is a chick

[Ult_Sm86]

It's clearly Friday the Cat.

[puppygirl]

You're all wrong, it's Hector

[Ult_Sm86]

But-... but...


no.

[Ferguson]

It's Eve, Hector, and Shortpack all in one!